Two teenage girls testified Tuesday that they were sexually assaulted in a vehicle three years ago near a Burbank park by a man who claimed to be a modeling agent but was actually a registered sex offender.
Fernando Gonzalez, 38, of Cicero, is on trial at the Cook County courthouse in Bridgeview on two counts of criminal sexual assault and four counts of criminal sexual abuse.
Prosecutors said Gonzalez lured the two girls, then 13, into his sport utility vehicle in August 2012 by telling them that he worked for a modeling catalog and wanted to photograph them.
His attorney contended that the girls were not harmed and accepted money for the photos, also emphasizing that they waited before speaking to authorities.
The girls, both 16 now, told the jury that Gonzalez put his hands on their thighs and touched them sexually in his SUV. They said they believed they were going to become models after the incident and were afraid to admit to each other that they had been molested.
The girls said they were walking in the afternoon of Aug. 3, 2012 to Owens Park, 78th Street and LeClaire Avenue, when Gonzalez approached. Gonzalez followed the girls in his SUV after the initial conversation and spoke to them again at the park gazebo where the two were painting their nails, according to the teens.
They testified that he persuaded them to enter his SUV separately, where he would take photos of each while the other waited by the gazebo. One teen told jurors that Gonzalez forced her shorts off while in the SUV, and the other said she took hers off after he asked for “bikini shots.”
The girls said they accepted a ride home from Gonzalez, first stopping near one girl’s home before both being dropped off near the other’s. They exchanged text messages that night with Gonzalez, who had given them his business card with his cellphone number, according to their testimony.
They said one girl’s mother overheard the two talking the following day about what had happened in the park and alerted police.
Burbank police arrested Gonzalez in January 2013. He has been held since at the Cook County Jail on $1 million bail. A Cook County judge in May 2013 denied a request to reduce his bail.
Gonzalez is registered as a sexual predator on Illinois’ sex offender website. Details of the prior crime were not found, but he was 23 when it occurred and the victim was 18, according to the website.
Closing arguments in the trial are expected Wednesday, and the case may go to the jury.
Nick Swedberg is a freelance reporter.
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